By Ryan Heaton
Wayne Pullman of Mapleton said he wonders why there aren”t more accidents on State Street between Provo and Springville. Each time he bikes on this road, he said he fears for his life.
“I think it”s scary,” Pullman said.
Not only do cars on the road speed by at 55 miles per hour, but the shoulder of the road is only two or three feet wide in certain areas, he said.
According to Pullman, this doesn”t give much room for bikers. Pullman said he eventually decided to completely avoid the road by taking alternate frontage roads and side roads.
“It”s scary enough just taking the frontage roads,” Pullman said.
But despite the danger, there are surprisingly few accidents on the road.
Springville Police Lieutenant Dave Caron, said people get used to driving that road, and they know what to look for.
Caron said there were a few accidents when Springville first installed a traffic light at the intersection at the end of the road because people weren”t expecting to have to stop.
But now, an accident is a rare occurrence.
“People get used to it,” he said.
Geoff Dupaix, public involvement coordinator at the Utah Department of Traffic, says dangerous situations such as these are becoming more and more common as the population increases in Utah County.
“When a lot of people need to use the road, that creates an interesting situation,” Dupaix said.
Dupaix said it”s becoming increasingly important that the public become involved. The movement for improvement begins with the people who actually use the road, he said.
The process begins at the city level. When residents notice the need for road improvements, a proposal needs to be submitted to the public works department of the nearest city.
If the proposal is reasonable, it will eventually reach the department of transportation, which will work with the federal government to see that the projects with the highest priority get completed.
Dupaix said the federal government has allocated special funds called enhancement funds, which were set aside to be used particularly to improve access for pedestrians and bicyclists. Because of the availability of the enhancement funds, there is a reasonable chance that the proposal will come to be implemented.
Dupaix reiterated that the process starts from the bottom level.
“It”s vital that we get public input,” Dupaix said. “It helps us do our job better.”
